mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
If you thought Bill Clinton’s tryst was bad, check out some of the salacious dirt haunting our other famous Presidents…
Warren Harding had a 15-year long affair with Carrie Phillips and over the years he 
gave her a Cadillac and offered her $5000 a year to keep her mouth shut. When the affair started getting in the way of his election, his campaign managers paid her more then $20,000, and sent her on a trip around the world.
Nan Britton, Harding’s other famed mistress, supposedly gave birth to his daughter. She also reported that Harding and she often had relations in White House coat closets, and once were almost caught by his wife before a Secret Service agent saved the day.
It’s no secret that Thomas Jefferson put the father in Founding Father. DNA evidence shows he sired at least 1 and probably all 6 of his slave Sally’s children. What’s harder for textbooks to verify is that he first seduced her when she was 14.
While JFK’s definitely the best-known White House Lothario, FDR might wheel himself into second place. The Polio Player had an affair with his wife’s bubbly secretary Lucy Mercer. When Eleanor found out about it, she was hopping mad, so he promised to put a halt to it… for a while. In the meantime, Roosevelt slept with his White House secretary Marguerite “Missy” LeHand, another one of his cousins (his wife was a cousin, too), and supposedly, he also got nice with Princess Martha of Norway. But despite the abundance of tail, he couldn’t get Lucy Mercer out of his head. When the 4-term president passed away, the two were wrapped around each other.
It’s not quite an affair, but John Quincy Adams got slapped with the nickname “The Pimp” after he offered his kids’ nanny’s “services” as a gift to the Czar of Russia.
Lyndon Johnson, the straight shooter from Texas who referred to his own Johnson as “Jumbo”, shagged Madeleine Brown for 21 years (and fathered her son) all behind his wife Lady Bird’s back. Meanwhile he was also busying himself with the movie actress Helen Gahagan Douglas and the knock-out Alice Glass—apparently, the latter eventually dumped him because of his politics on Vietnam.
James Garfield had an affair with an 18 year-old New York Times reporter named Lucia Gilbert Calhoun until his wife caught wind of the affair and made him decide between them. Good ole Garfield stuck to his marriage.
And then there’s JFK, the smoothest swinger of the lot. The most famous of his conquests was Marilyn Monroe who supposedly giggled and confided to a friend after their tryst, “I think I made his back real better.” Allegedly, Kennedy also bedded his secretary Pamela Turner, movie star Angie Dickinson, famed stripper Blaze Starr (he supposedly had sex with her in a closet while her fiancée was in the next room during a party), Danish journalist Inga Arvad, B-movie actress Jayne Mansfield, and a host of others. He also slept with an intern while in office, Marion Fahnestock, ushering the way for a later president to do the same.
BONUS “Founding Father” (but not a president) FACT: Back when he was still Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton decided to console a saddened Maria Reynolds. Despite the fact that they were both married, he continued “consoling” her, and “consoling” her until Reynolds’ husband smelled opportunity. He blackmailed the future president$1000 to keep quiet (1/3 of his salary!), but made it clear that Hamilton could keep sleeping with his wife for additional cash.
Special thanks to Sandy and Kara for the research help!
Comments (20)
Comment
Uhhh. Which president was Hamilton?
posted by Rick Brunk on 3-29-2007 at 9:49 am
Alexander Hamilton wasn’t a president.
posted by Me on 3-29-2007 at 10:37 am
Alexander Hamilton was never President. He was the first Secretary of the Treasury, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers and a founder of the Federalist party, but not ever President. That whole getting shot and killed by Aaron Burr thing kinda put a damper on his political career
posted by Jack on 3-29-2007 at 10:37 am
You’re all right, folks. The original concept of the “affairs” article was founding fathers — which WOULD have included Hamilton — but then we went for presidents specifically, and failed to remove old Alex from the mix. We’ve fixed that now.
posted by Sandy on 3-29-2007 at 10:45 am
Ha!!! SHAMEFUL! Thank you so much audience for keeping me on my toes… I think I was so enamored with the fact, and the fact that I recognized the man from the limited cash in my thin wallet, that I included him as well… I love how quickly errors get fixed on here…. thanks for the extra set of eyes! /m
posted by Mangesh on 3-29-2007 at 10:54 am
I’m pretty sure that the only reason “good ole” James Garfield stuck to his marriage was because his wife threatened to alert the press, and during campaign season at that. I’m not 100% sure, it’s just what I’ve read elsewhere.
posted by Michelle on 3-29-2007 at 11:12 am
Even more bizarre, Sally Hemmings was the half-sister of Jefferson’s wife.
Also, Grover Cleveland may or may not have fathered an illegitimate child, which led to some of the nastiest attack ads of all time.
posted by Jonah on 3-29-2007 at 11:41 am
Just a clarification… While it is quite possible (and even likely) that Jefferson is the father of some/all of Sally Hemmings children, the DNA evidence did not go that far. What it proved was that some of the Hemings descendents are also related to a male in the Jefferson family. That sounds rather suggestive, of course, but it is not by any means beyond reasonable doubt as there were a *number* of Jefferson relatives in the area (including living at Monticello) at times. Additionally, Hemings herself was also very likely the half-sister of Jefferson’s dead wife (them both having the same father). The common father of Sally Hemings and Martha Jefferson doesn’t directly factor into the DNA ambiguity, but it does support the existence of some rather convulated & extended master-slave interfamilal relationships. So, TJ+SH kids are likely, but still not yet proven. The DNA evidence gave additional credence, but no where near the “reasonable doubt” standard of evidence.
posted by Jim on 3-29-2007 at 1:24 pm
And don’t forget Grover Cleveland…I believe he had a child with his mistress while in office…
posted by Kate on 3-29-2007 at 1:27 pm
Well, it just goes to show……..folks is still folks and things don’t change a whole heck of a lot!
Power Sex Money
posted by Jane on 3-29-2007 at 1:39 pm
I’m a history major about to graduate this semester and for our senior graduation, we all got to pick our subjects for a final paper. One girl in my class is actually writing about Presidential mistresses, and you wouldn’t believe the extent of it all.
posted by Kali on 3-29-2007 at 3:32 pm
I did not know about FDR incestuous relationships. I love coming here, I learn something new everyday! Mental floss, indeed.
posted by ajadoniz on 3-29-2007 at 4:50 pm
Didn’t one president die having sex in the presidental bed? I remember hearing that from somewhere
posted by kim on 3-29-2007 at 7:09 pm
all this talk about president mistresses, anything out there about first lady trysts?
posted by ray on 3-29-2007 at 8:25 pm
Wow, I had no idea FDR was such a “lover.” I see him in a whole new light now, and I’m a little turned on. *hangs head in shame*
posted by Abbasmurf on 7-30-2007 at 1:10 pm
Haha, I also am seeing FDR in a whole new light. I read that Eleanor had found letters that Lucy would write to him. Sigh. Affairs, affairs, affair.
Someone should definitely start working on that “first lady trysts.”
I know she wasnt a first lady, but nevertheless a lady in every right, but we need more women like Princess Diana. Goes to shouw us women get our equal share of affairs.
posted by Ashley on 7-31-2007 at 6:26 pm
As for First Lady trysts: Some say Eleanor Roosevelt was having her own affair with a female reporter who lived across the hall from her in The White House
posted by gigi on 8-4-2007 at 8:08 am
Uh, why am I here? I clicked on “The many uses for gummy bears”. Are they used in presidential affairs?
posted by Charles McBride on 8-4-2007 at 6:34 pm
In regards to the garfield illegitimate child I believe his critics used the chant “Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa?” to hurt his credibility during the campaign. When he won some of his supporters apparently threw this back at critics by answering th question. “Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa? Gone to the White House. HA! HA! HA!”
posted by Gregory on 3-14-2008 at 8:02 am
Hamilton could not have ever have become president because he was born on Nevis B.W.I.
James Buchanan was reputed to be homosexual and maintained a household with William Rufus King, former V.P. The facts of the situation will forever remain shrouded in the shadow history.
posted by Tonton Macoute on 10-11-2008 at 7:53 pm